Haitians To Receive Deferred Enforced Departure (DED)

On December 23, 1997 President Clinton determined that it is in the foreign policy interest of the United States to defer for one year the deportation of any Haitian national who:

1. Was paroled into the United States before December 31, 1995, or who filed for asylum before December 31, 1995 and;
2. Who has been physically present in the United States since that date.

Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) does NOT apply to any Haitian:

1. Who has been convicted of an aggravated felony:
2. Who is found to be a persecutor of others;
3. Whose removal (in the opinion of the Attorney General) is determined to be in the interest of the United States;
4. Whose presence or activities in the US is found by the Secretary of State to have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the US;
5. Who voluntarily returned or returns to Haiti or his or her country of last habitual residence outside the US;
6. Who was deported, excluded, or removed prior to December 23, 1997; or
7. Who is subject to extradition.

Eligible Haitians will be able to apply for employment authorization and be given deferred enforced departure from the United States for one year from December 23, 1997.

Either the Service (INS), or the respondent or applicant for admission may request administrative closure of an immigration proceeding based on eligibility for DED. In addition, if an immigration Judge determines that an alien may be eligible for DED, he or she may ask the parties if they wish to have the immigration Judge administratively close the case. If both the Service and the respondent or applicant for admission consent to administrative closure, an immigration Judge must administratively close the case. The completion code for these administratively closed cases is "H".

DON'T

Do not rush to pay fees and fill out forms of any kind! The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) has not prepared an application form.

DED IS NOT AMNESTY

DED is not the same as amnesty. DED does not automatically lead to a green card, Congress will decide this, and it will take a lot of effort to get Congress to pass laws benefiting Haitians specifically.

DO

We will communicate our findings regularly to the media and to advocates for Haitian rights. For further information, please call 212-337-0005.